Air-fuel ratio detection apparatus of internal combustion engine

Abstract

In a multi-cylinder engine, to compute the air-fuel ratio of each cylinder by an air-fuel ratio sensor disposed in an exhaust pipe, a cylinder is determined by a crank angle detected by a crank angle sensor. A deviation in the air-fuel ratio of each cylinder is detected on the basis of the output signal of the air-fuel ratio sensor disposed in the exhaust pipe and the forcibly changed quantity of the air-fuel ratio.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application is based on Japanese Patent Applications No. 2006-110366 filed on Apr. 13, 2006, No. 2006-143031 filed on May 23, 2006, and No. 2006-184135 filed on Jul. 4, 2006, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to an air-fuel ratio detection apparatus of an internal combustion engine. The apparatus detects the air-fuel ratio of exhaust gas of each cylinder on the basis of the signal of an air-fuel ratio sensor disposed in an exhaust pipe in a multi-cylinder engine.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]In an exhaust emission control system of an engine, a three-way catalyst is disposed in an exhaust pipe and exhaust gas is cleaned by this three-way catalyst. When the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas is controlled to a stoichiometric air-fuel ratio, the three-way catalyst disposed in the exhaust pipe can efficiently clean the exhaust gas. For this reason, an...

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Benefits of technology

[0011]Moreover, it is another object of the present invention to provide a cylinder air-fuel ratio control apparatus of an internal combustion engine capable of correcting variations in the air-fuel ratio between cylinders.

[0012]Furthermore, it is still another object of the present invention to provide a cylinder air-fuel ratio control apparatus of an internal combustion engine capable of reducing a reduction in the estimation accuracy of the air-fuel ratio of each cylinder when the operating state of the internal combustion engine is suddenly changed.

[0013]According to the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for detecting variations in an air-fuel ratio between cylinders of a multi-cylinder engine and including: air-fuel ratio detection means disposed upstream of a catalyst disposed in an exhaust pipe, for detecting an air-fuel ratio of exhaust gas; and cylinder determination timing computation means for computing timing for detecting an air-fuel ratio of each cylinder, the apparatus including: air-fuel ratio change means for forcibly changing the air-fuel ratio of each cylinder; and cylinder air-fuel-ratio deviation estimation means for estimating a deviation in the air-fuel ratio of each cylinder on the basis of an air-fuel ratio detected by the air-fuel ratio detection means at timing computed by the cylinder determination timing computation means when an air-fuel ratio is changed by the air-fuel ratio change means. In this manner, the air-fuel ratio is forcibly changed to change an air-fuel ratio detected upstream of the catalyst disposed in the exhaust pipe, so a deviation in an air-fuel ratio of each cylinder can be estimated with high accuracy.

[0016]According to the present invention, the cylinder air-fuel-ratio correction quantity learning means performs fuel injection and an operation of opening and closing the valve unit only for a part of the plurality of cylinders in a state in which the fuel injection and the operation of opening and closing the valve unit are stopped for other cylinders in a period during which the cylinder air-fuel-ratio correction quantity is learned to control an air-fuel ratio on the basis of the output of the air-fuel ratio sensor. Thus, the air-fuel-ratio of the operating cylinder can be detected with high accuracy on the basis of the output of the air-fuel ratio sensor. For this reason, when the air-fuel ratio of exhaust gas of the operating cylinder is feedback controlled to a target air-fuel ratio (for example, stoichiometric air-fuel ratio), the air-fuel-ratio correction quantity of the operating cylinder, set by the air-fuel-ratio feedback control, becomes a cylinder air-fuel-ratio correction quantity for correcting variations in an air-fuel ratio between the cylinders for the operating cylinder. Accordingly, when this cylinder air-fuel-ratio correction quantity is learned for each cylinder, variations in the air-fuel ratio between the cylinders can be corrected from this learned value and hence the cylinder air-fuel ratio control can be performed with high accuracy.

[0018]In this construction, when the operating state of the internal combustion engine is suddenly changed to bring the engine operating state to the operating state in which the estimation of a cylinder air-fuel ratio is difficult, the state variable can be reset and returned to an initial value. Thus, when the air-fuel ratio of each cylinder is estimated next time, the air-fuel ratio of each cylinder in a present operating state can be estimated by the use of the reset state variable of an initial state without using the state variable affected by the past different operating state. Accordingly, a reduction in the estimation accuracy of the air-fuel ratio of each cylinder when the operating state of the internal combustion engine is suddenly changed can be reduced.

Problems solved by technology

However, the exhaust gas does not collide uniformly with the air-fuel ratio sensor, so it can be thought that the air-fuel ratio of only a specific cylinder is different from those of the other cylinders.

In this case, there is a possibility that the air-fuel ratio of the specific cylinder is substantially different from an air-fuel ratio when the engine is viewed as a whole and hence deviates from the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio by a large amount.

These variations in the air-fuel ratio between the cylinders become a cause of reducing the accuracy of the cylinder air-fuel ratio control to degrade emission and fuel consumption.

Thus, the system has a shortcoming that the accuracy of estimating the air-fuel ratio of each cylinder may be remarkably reduced, which results in reducing the control accuracy of the air-fuel ratio of each cylinder.

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